KLAMATH FALLS – On the strength of a comeback Saturday night at Danny Miles Court that salvaged the last leg of an arduous Cascade Conference-opening road trip, the Southern Oregon University men's basketball team is in business.
The Raiders triumphed at Oregon Tech, 84-75, for the first time since 2015 after trailing by as many as 10 points early in the second half. They outscored the Owls by 27 from the 3-point line on 14-of-26 accuracy, surging to their first CCC win after losing narrowly at No. 4-ranked College of Idaho and in overtime at Eastern Oregon last week.
The Raiders (4-4 overall, 1-2 CCC) put four players in double figures, each of whom hit at least half of their 3-point attempts. Senior guard
Atmar Mundu scored a team-high 19 points with a 4-of-7 performance from downtown,
Tez Allen had 18 points with 3-of-5 marksmanship outside, and
Will Graves poured in 16.
The Owls (3-6, 0-3) lost for the sixth time in eight outings.
Graves, coming off the bench for just the second time this season, put his stamp on the rivalry by keying the game-changing run. The Raiders trailed 55-50 with 12 minutes to go before he downed a 28-footer at the end of the shot clock, and he fed
Joe Juhala for a 3 the next time down the floor to push them ahead for the first time since the opening minutes. After an SOU stop, Mundu fed Graves in transition for another deep triple that made it 59-55.
The Owls briefly reclaimed the lead, but Mundu responded. His 3-pointer made it 64-63 with just under eight minutes to go, and after a pair of OIT free throws, he hit one more that put the Raiders on top for good.
Up 69-67 with five minutes left, the Raiders got comfortable with a 6-0 spurt that started when Graves came up with a steal and went coast-to-coast for a layup.
Josh Meyer finished it with a fadeaway in the paint and totaled 12 points, eight rebounds and two steals.
The Raiders committed nine turnovers compared to OIT's 14. In the second half, they shot 6-of-10 beyond the arc, 10-of-16 inside of it, and 14-of-18 at the line to accumulate 52 points.
Forward Joey Potts led the Owls with 20 points. Keegan Shivers shot 4-of-6 from 3, where his teammates combined to go 1-of-10.
The Raiders play nine of their next 13 conference games at home, starting next Friday and Saturday against Evergreen (Wash.) and Northwest (Wash.).